Our second Battle of the Birds matchup this tournament pits the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) against the colourful Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula), which doesn’t have the advantage of carrying a baseball bat into the battle!
The killdeer sounds like a force to be reckoned with, even from its scientific name, but this is a small-sized, ground-nesting bird that feats on insects and runs across the ground in spurts, stopping suddenly hoping to startle their insect prey into view. They are named for their “kill-deer!” call, which carries far. They are also known as the chattering plover, or the noisy plover. These feisty birds do different acts to defend their nests, depending on what is threatening them. For predators, they will do a broken-wing act to try and draw them away. For foraging cattle or deer, however, they will ruffle up their feathers, making themselves look big, and run at the intruder, hoping to back them off. Learn more about these amazing birds at All About Birds, here.
The Baltimore oriole is a far more colourful creature than the killdeer and its orange-and-black plumage makes it one of the most recognizable. These birds migrate to southern Mexico and northern South America in the winter and return to their breeding grounds in the eastern United States, the American Midwest and southern Canada during the summer. Unlike the killdeer, you may see it in your back yard, especially if you leave out ripe fruit, like cut oranges hung from trees. You can learn more about this bird from All About Birds here as well.
So, who continues, and who gets left behind? Will the Baltimore oriole fly past on looks, or will the feisty killdeer sprint to victory? Again, your votes decide the matter, so cast your ballot now.